Mityana Municipality MP Francis Zaake can now smile as he has been acquitted of charges of escape from lawful custody.
Grade one Magistrate Swaleh Asiku, at Arua Grade One Magistrates Court this morning, ruled that Zaake has no case to answer adding that there was evidence that the legislator suffered torture in the hands of the SFC who reportedly arrested him before handing him over to the police.
He also observed that although the law demands that persons facing arrest need to be informed and granted access to a lawyer, Zaake was never granted, yet the persons who arrested him were never produced in court by the prosecution.
He also noted that the absence of all formalities in the process implies that Zaake was not legally detained.
Francis Zaake has heaped praises on the magistrate for being objective.
Zaake’s lawyer,Medard Segona after the acquittal told journalists outside court that they will pursue the treason case and win it as well.
He said this was a case of witch-hunt of the opposition politicians.
“Today marks just a portion of ending this process. Zaake and others are being persecuted in Gulu. Uganda is one of the few states that could conspire against its citizens,” he said.
He added that: “In fact we do not have a government, we simply have a group of men ruling a country in conspiracy both to defraud, maim and kill. Our client’s right is not exhausted because there is a limit to which one can be used to further fraudulent scheme. The struggle is just beginning.”
Zaake and Kyaddondo East Member of Parliament, Mr Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine, were among the 33 suspects arrested in Arua on allegations of stoning President Museveni’s convoy on August 13, during the Arua Municipality by-election campaigns .
This was in the aftermath of the infamous Arua riots involving supporters of Kassiano Wadri, then a candidate in the Arua Municipality Parliamentary race, who had been accused of pelting stones at the Presidential Convoy. .
The suspects were reportedly tortured in detention.
Kyagulanyi and Zaake were advised to seek specialized treatment abroad. However, they were blocked from leaving the country and subsequently arrested at Entebbe Airport.
They were taken to Kiruddu Hospital and placed under the guard of Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence.
Kyagulanyi was later cleared by the medical board and police to travel to the US for treatment but Zaake wasn’t cleared.
Zaake was also later cleared to travel abroad for medical attention before police accused him of escaping from their custody.
